1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an automated placement probe and method to measure, monitor, and assess efficacy of a body cavity. In particular, the present disclosure relates to the design and use of a multi-measurement probe for providing multiple, and not necessarily complementary functions, such as measuring in-vivo activity of human or animal body tissues.
2. Background of Related Art
This present disclosure relates to instruments and methods for ablation monitoring. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to probes and methods for measuring and accessing efficacy of a body cavity.
Conventional surgical procedures involve cutting through bodily structures to expose a lesion or organ within the body for treatment. Because these procedures create considerable trauma to the patient, physicians have developed minimally invasive procedures using probes inserted into the body through body orifices or through small holes to treat or measure structures within the body. For example, the devices commonly referred to as endoscopes include an elongated body having a distal end and a proximal end. The distal end of the probe body can be inserted into the gastrointestinal tract through a body orifice. The endoscope may be equipped with optical devices such as cameras or fiber optics to permit observation of the tissues surrounding the distal end, and surgery may be performed by inserting and maneuvering surgical instruments through a channel in the endoscope body. Other probes commonly referred to as laparoscopes and orthoscopes are inserted into the body through small holes formed in surrounding tissues to reach the bodily structures to be treated or measured. Still other probes commonly referred to as catheters, can be advanced through the vascular system, as through a vein or artery, or through other bodily passages such as the urinary tract.
Typically, many of the above-described techniques require the surgeon to insert different instruments through the working lumen of the endoscope to treat tissue, separate vessels or perform other surgical procedures. Moreover, typical practice in ablation monitoring uses diagnostic imaging that is performed after a procedure is completed to assess efficacy. The ablation monitoring process uses, for example, temperature probes that are integrated into a probe or separate from the probe to gather additional information. However, these probes measure only one particular type of parameter such as temperature. If another parameter is required, the surgeon would use another type of probe. The need for careful and precise control over the probe is critical when monitoring and measuring the body cavity at the same treatment site. Additionally, multiple insertions of different probes require additional body orifices or small holes to treat or measure structures within the body. As can be appreciated, this simply adds to the overall complexity of the operation since it requires the repeated exchange of probes to measure the different data associated with a given surgical procedure.